Creating Liveable Cities in Australia a Scorecard and Priority Recommendations for Melbourne What Makes a Liveable City?
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September 2018 Creating liveable cities in Australia A scorecard and priority recommendations for Melbourne What makes a liveable city? The term ‘liveability’ is widely used in Australia and across the world, yet it is rarely defined. We define a ‘liveable’ community as one that is: ‘safe, attractive, socially cohesive and inclusive, and environmentally sustainable; with affordable and diverse housing linked by convenient public transport, walking and cycling infrastructure to employment, education, public open space, local shops, health and community services, and leisure and cultural opportunities [1].’ Liveable, walkable neighbourhoods can improve public health, and can increase environmental, economic and social sustainability [2, 3]. Creating healthy, liveable communities will therefore help cities achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [4] and United Nations Habitat’s New Urban Agenda [5]. We have identified seven domains that help make neighbourhoods liveable: Walkability Public Transport Public Open Space Employment Alcohol Environment Housing Affordability Food Environment Liveable city scorecard In ‘Creating Liveable Cities in Australia’ (2017) we reviewed state government urban planning policies related to liveability in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth and presented the first ‘baseline’ measure of liveability in these cities [6]. This scorecard focuses on the results and recommendations for Melbourne, Victoria based on two types of indicators mapped across the metropolitan area: 1) Policy implementation indicators We reviewed each state’s policies and identified relevant, measurable standards and targets. We then mapped and assessed how well states were implementing their policies spatially, i.e., how they were delivered on-the-ground. The scorecard shows where Melbourne is currently meeting or exceeding (p), on par ( n ) or falling below (q) its policy targets. 2) National liveability indicators We created a set of spatial liveability indicators which are aligned with urban policy and are also associated with chronic disease risk factors or health outcomes. We mapped these using data available nationally, allowing comparisons between the state capital cities. The Housing Affordability and Employment national liveability indicators have been updated in this scorecard using the newly available 2016 Census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The scorecard shows where Melbourne is currently performing well (p), on par ( n ) or underperforming (q) compared to other cities. Our main findings • Making Melbourne ‘liveable’ is a policy objective of the Victorian state government. In some domains of liveability, Melbourne performs well compared with other Australian cities in its policy ambition and performance. However, to achieve its liveability aspirations, greater ambition is required in some of its policy targets. • Melbourne’s target of an average net density of 15 dwellings or more per hectare is low, and well below that required to create walkable neighbourhoods (at least 25 dwellings per hectare). Notably, only 21% of Melbourne’s suburbs are achieving even this modest dwelling density target. • Melbourne is doing well in: • moving towards the 95% policy target for access to public transport • providing access to public open spaces within 400 m of residences. • 69% of residences have access to a bus stop within 400 m, tram stop within 600 m or train station within 800 m, moving towards Victoria’s ambitious 95% public transport policy target. However, unlike Sydney, Melbourne does not have a target for service frequency. • 36% of residences in Melbourne meet the stricter public transport national liveability indicator requirements, and are within 400m of a public transport stop with a scheduled service at least every 30 minutes between 7am and 7pm on a normal weekday. This result highlights the importance of service frequency in measuring transport access. • 82% of residences are within 400 m of a public open space of any size and only 49% have access to public open spaces larger than1.5 hectares. • However, Melbourne is not doing well in: • fully implementing policies aimed at increasing access to destinations, street connectivity, and density to create walkable neighbourhoods • providing access to public transport and walkable communities in outer suburban areas. • 39% of lower-income households in Melbourne are experiencing housing affordability stress. • 28% of people in Melbourne live and work in the same broad area, but when traveling to work only 16% use public transport, and only 5% walk or cycle. • 40% of residences in Melbourne are within 1 km of a supermarket. • There are no measurable spatial policies about the alcohol environment. 52% of Melbourne residences are not within 800 m of an outlet selling take-away alcohol. • There are no measureable spatial policies for housing affordability, or supporting local employment, or for public and active transport to work. Recommendations We recommend that: • integrated evidence-informed transport, land use and infrastructure planning be undertaken to deliver affordable housing, public transport, accessible employment and amenities; and to create walkable neighbourhoods as the foundation of a liveable city. • measurable spatial standards be included in all policies, regulations and guidelines for urban planning, transport and infrastructure. • ambitious targets be set for all seven urban liveability domains, with specific short-term, medium-term and long-term goals for implementation. The state government should: • increase and fully implement a minimum housing-density target of at least 25 dwellings per hectare [7], with even higher densities around public transport nodes and activity centres [8] • set, implement and maintain policies that create larger, higher-quality public open spaces • implement and maintain more ambitious public transport access policies that include proximity and frequency of service targets, and add interim short and medium term targets to encourage evaluation and implementation of this policy • develop spatial policies for improving the food and alcohol environment. This could increase people’s access to healthy food, and reduce the health-related and social harms caused by excessive alcohol consumption • invest in walking and cycling infrastructure including in outer suburban areas • encourage active forms of transport to work • develop spatial policies for affordable housing and access to local employment. • spatial indicators be adopted to measure and monitor the implementation of state government policies designed to create liveable communities. These should be updated at least every five years, to coincide with the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census, and more frequently where possible. • health promotion be recognised as an objective of the Victorian Planning and Environment Act. This will help local government planners create healthy, liveable communities. Walkability What does the policy say — and how well is it being implemented? The Victorian Planning Provisions and Precinct Structure Planning Guidelines have guidelines for three urban design features that affect walkability: • Access to destinations – requires 80-90% of residences be within 1 km of an activity centre large enough to support a supermarket. Western Australia and Victoria are the only states with policies for access to destinations located at activity or district centres. q 40% of residences and 11% of suburbs in Melbourne meet this target. • Street connectivity – sets a standard for the length and width of street blocks, to create walkable blocks with a of maximum perimeter 720 m. n 65% of residential street blocks in Melbourne meet this standard. • Density – specifies an average net density of 15 dwellings per hectare. This is too low to create walkable neighbourhoods. q 21% of suburbs in Melbourne meet this target. How does Melbourne rate on the national liveability indicators? Walkability was measured nationally using a variety of indicators shown to influence walking for transport [9]. Our combined walkability score includes dwelling density, street connectivity and access to daily living destinations within 1.6 km walking distance of home. Also presented here are indicators of distance to closest activity centre and dwelling density. n Overall walkability in Melbourne is highest in the inner and middle suburbs and declines towards the urban fringe. Low walkability on the urban fringe is common in Australian cities with the exception of Perth, which through well-implemented urban design guidelines, has some new walkable areas in the outer suburbs. n Melbourne’s dwelling density averages 14 dwellings per hectare, which is below Sydney (18) but higher than Brisbane (13) and Perth (12). n On average, residences in Melbourne are 1.3 km from their closest activity centre - this is similar to Sydney (1.3 km), and closer than Brisbane and Perth (1.5 km). MELBOURNE 14 BRISBANE 13 PERTH 12 SYDNEY 18 0 5 10 15 20 Dwelling density (dwellings per hectare) MELBOURNE 1332 m BRISBANE 1482 m PERTH 1499 m SYDNEY 1285 m 0 500 1000 1500 Average distance in meters to the closest activity centre Public Transport What does the policy say — and how well is it being implemented? The Victorian Planning Provisions require 95% of Melbourne residences to be within 400 m walking distance of a bus stop, 600 m of a tram stop, or 800 m of a train station. However, unlike Sydney, it does not include a target for frequency of service. q 69% of residences